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Title hopefuls dominate Round of 8

The heat is rising in Abu Dhabi as we get closer to the final round in the first race of 2018. World Champion Yoshihide Muroya is though, as is Kirby Chambliss, Martin Sonka and Michael Goulian. Here's how they got there...

Heat 8Goulian vs HallMichael Goulian has been flying well all week and would have been happy with his time. However, Hall had beaten the time Goulian set, which was 54.300s so he knew he could do it. Hall, as always, was smooth but he was a little soft in the VTM and was 0.296s behind, giving Goulian the pass into the Final 4.

Heat 9Sonka vs Le VotMartin Sonka was strong and put in a time of 54.825s, which was a little slow. François Le Vot came out fighting and his early split times were green, but they turned red as the run went on. Le Vot has said his plane has been losing energy in the second half of the track and it seems as if that's what happened here. He finished 0.286s behind Sonka.

Heat 10Brageot vs ChamblissBrageot was looking good in the track, but collected a penalty in Gate 7 for flying at an incorrect level adding two seconds to his time. His final time of 57.567, was not very competitive. Chambliss was relaxed in the track and just made sure he was clean. His time of 54.980s was enough to see him beat Brageot by 2.587s.

Heat 11Ben Murphy vs Yoshihide MuroyaThe British pilot flew clean, smooth and set a competitive time of 54.860s. He knew he had to be quick as he was up against the World Champion. Muroya was quicker at the first split and the lights kept turning green as he pulled away from Murphy's time. When he crossed the finish line he was 0.879s faster and into the Final 4.